


I'm Always Thinking About You

by Rose_gold_goddess



Series: So Take My Heart, It's All That's Left [3]
Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Another Story (Mystic Messenger), Another Story Spoilers (Mystic Messenger), Assurances, Explicit Language, F/M, Hostage Situations, MC is an OC, Not Canon Compliant, POV Original Female Character, Pining, Promises, Regret, Self-Blame, Unrequited Crush, V | Kim Jihyun's Route, hunger strike, like always, smol angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 17:29:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17902415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose_gold_goddess/pseuds/Rose_gold_goddess
Summary: “Then perhaps we can make another promise to one another,” he mused softly. “I will keep up my strength to prepare, if you do the same. Please eat something. For me. Promise.”“If you promise me to do the same, then I will,” she acquiesced. “Only if you do, V.”“Yes, Chloe. Another promise.”





	I'm Always Thinking About You

**Author's Note:**

> And still I continue to work my way through all these V Route feelings. MC is still an OC as always and thus named and described.
> 
> Chloe:
> 
>  

“Open the door.”

“No!”

“Mr. Ray insisted that we deliver your meal and that you let us in.”

“Go away! I don’t want anything. Tell him to leave me alone!”

There was another push against the door, and Chloe braced her feet and tightened her grip on the arms of the baby pink armchair. It slid slightly in response to the force applied from the other side, and she pushed back as hard as she could, keeping the chair propped beneath the doorknob.

“Mr. Ray won’t be happy.”

“Tell him to choke on it,” Chloe spat back, and she gave another firm push of the chair so that the door snapped shut once more. “I’m not eating, so you can stop trying.”

She could hear muffled voices conversing on the other side of the door and continued to brace the chair in case they tried again, but after several moments the voices stopped. Finally there was quiet in the hall beyond, but she stayed where she was, waiting with bated breath to see if it was a trick.

After a few minutes passed she decided they must have given up and sank into the chair with a sigh. It was midday, and if she was honest with herself she was hungry, even as her stomach churned with nerves. She had spent two restless nights tossing and turning, unable to sleep and frequently getting up to look out her window at the moonlit grounds. There had been more patrols of the Believers, and she knew they were looking for V.

More than once she had considered breaking her promise to him and jumping from the window, perhaps tying her sheets to make a rope so that the fall wouldn’t be quite so terrible. But with more of those hooded figures wandering the area, she doubted she’d be able to make a clean escape or find V even if she could.

She was trapped.

The messenger was a small comfort to her, the few times she had spoken to V and the others, taking solace in the fact that they were at least partly aware of the situation now. V kept asking her to keep things secret, but she held onto the hope that soon he would be able to return for her.

Until he could, she would keep her guard up. She couldn’t bring herself to eat, both from nerves and a complete distrust of what her food might contain. And despite how V had told her to play along with them, she couldn’t help but show her displeasure at her situation by refusing Ray’s continual attempts at caring for her.

For now she had water from the tap in the bathroom off her suite, and she trusted that wasn’t somehow contaminated. Every time her stomach growled she filled a glass and drank it slowly, draining another if she needed to. It at least fooled her for a while that she was full, and she knew thirst was a bigger danger before starvation.

There was a pack of mints in her purse, and occasionally she sucked on one, sitting in the windowsill looking over the grounds. She remembered the sight of V sneaking off into the shadows, the anxiety she had felt at realizing she was being left alone for longer in this place - and every time it began to overwhelm her she sought out the messenger. When no one was present in the chatroom, she distracted herself instead with keeping a journal, writing out everything she could think of or remember from the days she had been there.

Her mind was still trying to wrap around the realization that she had been tricked, that she had been speaking with real people the entire time. She should have known, and she hated how easily she had believed the lie and gone along with it all. All she had been focused on was how perfect it seemed, a comfortable room and the promise of easy money for simply playing a game for a few weeks or less. Not to mention the fact that the “game” had been so freeing. The notion that she was speaking with AI had granted her a freedom she hadn’t felt in so long, a chance to forget struggles and simply be herself.

Carefree and happy, instead of grieving and alone. It had felt like having friends, having people who cared about her once more.

That, at least, hadn’t gone away once she discovered they were real, and that alone was enough to give her hope as she kept herself barricaded in her room.

She wondered too if she would wear the floor out with her pacing, the path she took between the window and chair, unable to resist checking frequently that it was still firmly blocking the door. Dressed as if ready to run any moment, jeans and her yellow high tops, her light jacket tied around her waist and oversized flannel shirt billowing about her as she chewed her thumb and thought. Fidgeting with the pendant that rested above the neckline of her thin tank top she tried to calm her heart, and fumbled for her phone in her back pocket once more. Reassurance, a distraction - speaking to anyone, any one of them, would be better than this silence.

 

[Jaehee Kang]: Chloe! You’re here. Are you all right?

[Chloe]: I am! How are you holding up?

[Jaehee Kang]: I am fine.

[Jaehee Kang]: I’m amazed you can worry about me when you’re apparently being held hostage…

[Jaehee Kang]: But perhaps we shouldn’t speak about that, here. Just in case.

[Chloe]: Yes, good idea. V wasn’t certain if it was safe.

[Chloe]: Um...are you busy working?

[Jaehee Kang]: Yes, as always. I was up all night

 

The screen suddenly fizzled, going black, lines of green code running in the background, and Chloe’s heart immediately raced as her stomach did an uncomfortable somersault.

 

[Ray]: Chloe!

[Ray]: I miss you.

[Ray]: I heard you haven’t been eating…Is something wrong?

[Chloe]: I won’t eat until you let me out of here.

[Ray]: Please don’t say that!

[Ray]: Are you mad at me? Are you mad your ceremony was interrupted and you’re not in Paradise yet?

[Chloe]: You’re holding me hostage!

[Ray]: Don’t say that, I’m…I’m not.

[Ray]: You don’t believe what that villain V said, do you?

[Ray]: He’s a liar and a hypocrite. Don’t believe him!

[Chloe]: I think you’re the liar here. Let me go.

[Ray]: No, you don’t mean that.

[Ray]: You’ll be happy here. Promise me you’ll stay.

[Chloe]: No, never

[Ray]: Chloe please, I had to lie to you. My savior told me to.

[Ray]: I want you to be happy, I want you to stay here with me. Forever.

[Chloe]: The only way I’ll stay forever is if I’m buried here.

[Chloe]: Let me go. Please.

[Ray]: I know I lost your trust because of the lie I had to tell you but please

[Ray]: I’ll fix everything, we’ll catch that villain and hypocrite and then we can be happy here.

[Ray]: Together.

[Chloe]: I hope you never catch him. He’ll save me.

[Chloe]: Until then, either let me go or leave me alone.

[Chloe]: And if you won’t, I’ll continue to starve myself. Better that than let you trick me again.

_Chloe has left the chatroom._

 

Closing the app she let out a groan of frustration and sank into the chair, leaning back against the door as she stared at the window.

 

_Too good to be true…_

 

Absently she dragged the pendant of her necklace along its chain, chewing her lip as she contemplated her window. Her fingers were shaking, and again she couldn’t tell if it was nerves or hunger, the painful knots in her stomach impossible to decipher.

The melodious ringtone of the messenger app startled her out of her musings, and she glared down at the phone in her hand, ready to vent more anger at Ray if it was him as she suspected.

 

**V**

 

Almost dropping her phone in her haste to answer, she swiped the screen and held it up to her ear. “V? Are you okay?”

“Are you?” he immediately countered. “I received a text from Jaehee, she said something happened in the messenger.”

“Oh. That.” Chloe heaved a sigh and leaned back against the door once more. “Ray interrupted, was trying to talk to me.”

“And you’re all right?”

“As all right as I can be,” she assured him.

“What did he want?” V asked, and the concern in his tone, despite sounding harsh and hurried, somehow soothed her.

“The usual. To tell me not to trust you or the RFA, telling me he wants me to stay here forever, that I’ll be happy here at ‘Paradise’ with him,” she listed off before sighing again. “I closed the app after demanding he let me go.”

“I’m so sorry you’re still stuck here,” V breathed. “It’s all my fault, but I’ll get you out of here. I’ve been plotting out our escape route, I - I should be able to. Soon. I promise, Chloe. I’ll rescue you.”

“I have faith in you, V,” she murmured. “You promised you’d come back for me, and I trust you.”

“Thank you,” he said, but he trailed off and then cleared his throat. “Actually I meant to - I was going to call anyway. I heard some of the people here talking and wanted to ask you...are you truly not eating?”

“I’ve refused,” she confessed. “I don’t trust them, and I told him I won’t eat until he lets me out of here. I barricaded my door so they can’t come in here and won’t take the food they bring.”

“Chloe, I know - I know I told you to be careful, but,” V paused, letting out a soft sigh. “You’ll need your strength to escape.”

“I’ll manage -”

“Please, for me,” he insisted.

“Have you been able to eat?” she challenged.

“I am fine -”

“V, you need your strength too -”

“ - I am not important, compared to you -”

“Bullshit.”

“I - excuse me?”

“V, you’re just as important as me,” Chloe told him, instantly regretting how snappish her tone was. Clenching her eyes shut she arched her neck, letting out a slow exhalation of air. “I just mean - I can’t escape without you. You need your strength too, you need to be strong so you can come with me and get us both out of here. Together. Just like you promised.”

“Then perhaps we can make another promise to one another,” he mused softly. “I will keep up my strength to prepare, if you do the same. Please eat something. For me. Promise.”

“If you promise me to do the same, then I will,” she acquiesced. “Only if you do, V.”

“Yes, Chloe. Another promise.”

She smiled to herself, her grin widening when she heard a soft breath of laughter on the other end. “What?”

“It’s strange, the secrets and promises between us now,” he murmured. “I’ve only known you a few days, and yet - we share so much. So much no one else does.”

“You’re right, we do,” she agreed. “It’s strange, it makes me feel like…”

“Like what?” he prompted when she didn’t finish. “I hope you feel comfortable enough to share anything with me.”

“That’s just the thing. I do,” Chloe told him. “I feel like I could confide anything in you, and you would...accept and understand it.”

“Someday I hope we have the time to share more.”

“In order for that to happen, we have to get out of here first,” she pointed out. “Together.”

“You are right, of course,” he conceded. “Although, I already feel as though I know you so well. A situation like this...it -”

“Brings out people’s true natures?” she finished for him.

“Yes, exactly.” He paused for a moment, and she listened eagerly to the steady sound of his breathing. “You are...warm. And kind. Good-hearted and so open -”

“I - I’m a little embarrassed about that, actually,” she admitted before she could stop herself.

“Embarrassed by your true self?”

“Embarrassed about how open I was,” she corrected. “I thought - what I’d been told, I - I didn’t realize. I didn’t mean to share so much of myself.”

“Ah.” He hesitated again, and then chuckled. “I meant your - nature, who you are. Not what you shared or what you spoke of. Even now you’re more concerned about me than yourself, more open to my struggle than intent to focus on your own. Because of that, your inherent self, so much has changed, in such a short amount of time. I am...amazed.”

“I - I just - am,” she trailed off and then laughed softly at herself. “I guess that’s your point. I didn’t realize that could...affect things so much.”

“It has,” V assured her. “And not just for the RFA, for myself as well. Thank you, Chloe. I mean it.”

They fell into silence, and Chloe felt the knots in her stomach loosening, her heart resuming a steadier pace. Even this, between them, was somehow so comfortable.

“I am glad to hear that you are still all right,” he finally said. “I apologize, I wish I could speak longer but I must go. Remember our promises, please.”

“You too,” she countered, but she smiled to herself.

“Yes, of course. You are...so important, Chloe.” He paused, and then let out a soft sigh. “I will see you soon.”

“I’ll be waiting,” she breathed.

The line clicked and she held her phone to her ear a few moments longer, wishing the comfort of his voice could remain with her in the renewed silence of her room. With another deep breath to maintain the steadiness he had brought to her, she stood once more and pocketed her phone. She dragged the chair away from the door to return it to its place beside the small circular table, then took a moment to calm her nerves.

When she opened the door she was unsurprised to find one of the hooded Believers waiting against the wall opposite. They straightened when they saw her in the doorway, and she held her head high as she regarded them.

“Tell Ray...I accept,” she said. “I’ll eat again.”

Within a few minutes food was brought to her room, a tray overladen with plates and several beverages, which she pointedly ignored. A familiar orange rose waited in a thin vase, accompanied by several small daisies, but this she also set aside on the table and otherwise ignored as well. The hooded figure who had brought her food bowed themself from the room after giving one careful perusal of every corner. She waited until the door was shut before she turned her attention to the contents of the tray.

Despite how hungry she had been, now that food was before her she found very little interest in actually eating. But the echo of V eliciting another promise from her made her pick up one of the pieces of toasted grainy bread. After holding it to her nose to inspect as best she could, she nibbled one corner and forced herself to chew, and then to swallow.

Steadily she ate the few slices of toast on the tray, ignoring the soup because she couldn’t trust the broth, and sticking to the water from her faucet instead of the selection of drinks that had been sent. When she had finally satiated her hunger she perched once more in the windowsill, taking her journal out to update and pass the time.

She wasn’t certain how much time passed before a familiar rap of knocks on her door pulled her from her introspection. Hurriedly stuffing her journal in the bag that rested beside the dresser, she tried to appear at ease as she called for entry.

Ray peered around the door after he opened it, eyes roaming over the room before he stepped inside. He almost bounced with each step he took as he crossed to the table the tray rested upon, but the smile on his face quickly turned into a frown.

“Was there something wrong with the food I sent you? You didn’t drink anything either,” he said, looking up at where she sat with her knees pulled into her chest.

“I ate the toast, figured it was least likely to be poisoned,” she told him firmly.

His crestfallen expression tugged at her slightly, reminding her of a wounded puppy. But she thought too of the way he had screamed and grabbed her wrist, yanking her away from V’s firm grasp and leaving bruises in the process. It renewed the iciness in her heart, and she sat up slightly straighter as she tried to hold his hurt, inquisitive gaze without flinching.

“You don’t trust me anymore,” he murmured. “It’s all right, I’ll - I’ll do better. I’ll get you to trust me again. Once I capture that villainous traitor, you’ll see. And after…”

“After what?”

“After you meet her,” Ray said, and he gave her a bright smile, though something hesitant seemed to be lurking behind.

“Her?” Chloe repeated, swinging her legs off the windowsill to face him fully.

“My savior. She wants to meet you,” Ray answered. “Are you ready?”

“I suppose I don’t have a choice,” she muttered. She sighed and pushed herself to her feet, fidgeting with the sleeves of her flannel as she cautiously approached him.

For a moment he looked her over, taking in the sight of what she was wearing as if trying to make up his mind about something. Finally he shook his head and gestured with a hand for her to precede him out of the room.

Chloe took a deep breath and placed one foot in front of the other, willing herself to carry on and not show the way her whole body shook. Now that there was food in her stomach she worried she’d get sick, the nerves squeezing her insides painfully as she clenched her fists. But she held her head high, only vaguely aware of Ray still speaking beside her, not taking in any of the words.

“Wait.”

“What?” She startled out of her determined silence at the feeling of Ray’s gloved hand on her wrist, stepping back instinctively and pulling her arm away.

“Sorry, but - you need to put this on,” Ray told her, holding up a familiar, thick black sash.

“Are you serious?” she challenged, folding her arms.

“Yes, you can’t see where we’re going,” Ray insisted, and he turned her. Before she could protest again he covered her eyes with the cloth and began to tie it tightly behind her head. “Trust me, I’ll make certain you don’t trip.”

“I’m not sure tripping is my biggest concern,” Chloe grumbled.

Ray gently took one of her hands in his and began to lead her, moving slowly and softly giving her instructions. He handled her so carefully, and she gritted her teeth and tried to hide the way she trembled from head to foot.

 

_What’s going to happen to me now?_

 

For several minutes she was led in darkness, only Ray’s hand holding hers, his other resting too comfortably on her lower back as he guided her. Without her sight she was more aware of noises, murmurs in hallways, far off clatters that almost sounded like the construction both Ray and V had mentioned.

Just as she was beginning to wonder how much farther, Ray slowed and shifted how he held her, the sound of a door opening nearby making her tense.

“It’s all right, we’re here,” Ray assured her, and she realized he must have felt her stiffen in his grasp. “Give me a moment to remove your blindfold...Don't be afraid, my savior is eager to meet you. She likes you...although…”

“Although what?” Chloe hissed through her teeth. She caught her bottom lip in an attempt to hide the way it quivered at the sound of uncertainty in his voice.

“She promised she wouldn’t take you away from me. I’m sure - she just wants to speak with you,” he answered, though he sounded as if he was speaking to himself more than her.

Before she could ask what he meant, the blindfold fell from her eyes and she found herself blinking against the bright light surrounding her. She squinted as she looked around, trying to absorb the strange decor of what appeared to be -

“Is this some kind of throne room?” she muttered.

“My savior, I brought her.” Ray walked forward, stepping beside Chloe and resting a hand on his heart.

A slight figure stopped before them, long blonde curls shining, wide green eyes peering out from behind a lacy black mask. She smiled brightly as she gave Chloe a thorough once over. The action caused a shiver to run down Chloe’s spine that she couldn’t suppress, and even with the mask the stark realization of who she faced hit her like a brick.

V had mentioned more secrets, secrets she might hate him for, secrets he desperately wanted to keep from everyone else. And as the biggest secret yet stepped closer to Chloe and tilted her head, she felt her mind racing as she tried to bury the questions that wanted to burst from her lips.

No, she needed to stay calm. Aloof. Play along and pretend to listen to them, as V had instructed her. All she could hope was that he could rescue her soon, and perhaps explain everything once they were together.

Far away from here.

He had promised he would save her, and she knew he would keep his word to come back for her.


End file.
